Blizzard
by April Dawn Irene
Summary: Hermione finds that Harry is missing and goes off to find him only to get stuck in a Blizzard and an ill Harry. HPHG shipping OneShotComplete


A/N: I wrote this for a contest on The White Tomb. The paring is Harry/Hermione just like most of my other "one-shot" Harry Potter ficlets have been…

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter; if I did I wouldn't be a poor high school student who has to beg people for money to buy a soda…

Blizzard

Hermione stared at the rainstorm raging outside her dormitory window, lines of worry creasing her forehead. The object of her worry was one Harry Potter. The boy had gone off several hours earlier to help Hagrid with something and it was his prolonged absence during this storm that nagged at her mind and heart. She knew that if Ron weren't with his Family at the Burrow, that he would tell her that Harry was probably off drinking Butterbeer with the resident Half-Giant, but it didn't calm her fears at all.

It was freezing cold outside now and night was rapidly approaching. Letting her worry get the better of her, she grabbed her winter cloak and blindly ran to Hagrid's Hut. She knocked rapidly, her hands freezing since she had forgotten to put on her gloves.

"Well, 'Ermione... What brings yeh ter my neck of the woods?" Hagrid asked in greeting. He held the door open for Hermione and she ran inside, not wanting to get any more soaked than she already was.

"Hagrid, where's Harry?" she asked, panic evident in her voice. Her eyes scanned the room for any indication that her friend was there but found none.

"'Arry left hours ago after he helped me ter get the Skrewts back in their pen." Hagrid replied, concern in his voice.

'No, this can't be happening.' screamed the logical part of Hermione's rather brilliant mind.

"Harry never came back to the common room like he said he would. I'm sorry Hagrid, I have to find him!" Hermione ran out the door. If the freezing cold rain had been bad, then the snow that had just started was even worse. Over and over again the worst scenarios played in her mind. What if Harry was hurt and unable to get back to Hogwarts on his own? What if Harry was out there somewhere, stuck and freezing cold. Hermione didn't want to find out.

She ran, yelling Harry's name for what seemed ages until finally she could run no more and had to stop. She looked around for some form of shelter fell at least four feet to an area where it seemed the slush on the ground was deepest. Almost immediately she noticed a body lying on the ground almost covered in snow and unmoving. She got up, realizing she had twisted her ankle but ignored the pain and walked to the still form.

She pulled the body from the slush as best as she could and got to a spot where it wasn't near as wet, but still freezing cold. It was definitely Harry and although she could tell he was breathing, it seemed just barely enough to keep him alive. His lips were already a bluish color and it seemed that the blue was rapidly traveling to the rest of his unnaturally pale face.

"Harry!" she screamed in a panic. She rubbed her cold hands together and put them on her friend's face in an attempt to warm him. It took ages and she had to cast a drying and warming spell on their clothes to get any response out of him. She conjured as big a fire as their small shelter would allow and that wasn't very big and kept Harry as close to it as she could without burning him. It didn't provide much warmth but at least Harry was if anything, warm enough to stay alive for a little longer.

Hours passed and the blizzard got worse to the point where the winds blew the fire out and made the warming charms seem pointless. Harry was finally starting to come to and shivered violently as Hermione softly brushed his left cheek with her thumb. He tried to speak but could only put out a feeble "Mione" before his body was wracked with a violent coughing fit.

"Harry?" she softly patted his back and helped him sit forward in case he needed to cough up anything. "Harry?" she called, panicked, when Harry closed his eyes.

"I'm here..." he said as his body was taken over by another fit of coughing. "Mione..." he barely opened his eyes and smiled painfully.

"Harry, what happened? How did you get here?" Hermione asked, squeezing her friend's hand.

"I-I'm no-not sure, ex-exactly..." Harry said, shivering. Hermione suddenly remembered to cast a charm to keep the cold out of the little cave and cast a different fire charm, one that wouldn't burn up all the oxygen in their cave. Both teens were silent for what seemed the longest time and had finally fallen asleep cuddled up to each other.

Many hours later, which in fact brought on another morning of raging blizzard, Hermione was woken up by Harry's cough, which had gotten even worse. Harry was dry heaving and didn't seem able to get up from where he sat against the cave wall. Still, even when he didn't cough, he shivered rather violently, considering it wasn't all that cold in their cave. Hermione put a hand to her friend's sweaty forehead and pulled it back in shock. Harry had a raging fever. She desperately wished she had brought her bag with her, remembering that she usually kept muggle fever and pain reliever in it for when she had her monthly visitor.

"Harry?" she lightly shook her ill friend in an attempt to get his attention.

"S-so c-c-col-cold." he shivered in response. It was clear to Hermione that he probably barely registered where he was, let alone who he was with. She tore off a piece of her robes and spelled it to be cool and damp before putting it to Harry's forehead in an attempt to ease his suffering. What she didn't expect was Harry's illness induced reaction to the sudden cold from it.

"N-no! D-don't, Aunt P-petunia!" He cried just before another coughing fit wracked his thin body. "T-too co-c-old!" he jerked away from Hermione, and screamed out in pain. Hermione pulled up Harry's pant legs and saw the swollen knee. She assumed that the day before that he had just been too cold and numb to register the pain he was in.

All too soon, water began to seep through the cold ground and started to soak the two. Before long, she and Harry were nearly nude and cuddled up closely, their clothes the only thing keeping the two even slightly dryer and warmer than they would have been if they weren't covered. It seemed almost days and both Harry and Hermione were shivering, keeping every so slightly warm because of the body contact. Harry was continuously coughing, even wheezing at times and Hermione knew he must have come down with Pneumonia from being so wet and cold. They were hungry and despite their hunger, Harry often had to be propped up because of his dry heaving.

Everything seemed so bleak when Harry finally spoke again.

"Mione?" he asked, his voice extremely hoarse.

"Yes, Harry?" Hermione replied weakly.

"I-I nev-never t-told y-you..." Before he could finish another coughing fit took him by storm, making him even weaker. "I-I lo-love you..." he shivered before coughing yet again.

"Harry... I love you too." Hermione cried, her voice cracking with unshed tears.

By the time the blizzard stopped enough to see anything and teachers were dispatched to search for the missing duo, Harry and Hermione were too weak, tired, and cold to get up or even talk when they heard the worried yells of their teachers.

Ironically, it was Severus Snape who came upon the ditch the two had fallen into and had dug through the snow looking for them, finally finding the two Gryffindors in their little cave, both extremely weak and ill.

'At least the brats knew to keep close.' he thought as he spelled Harry and Hermione's clothes dry and back onto their bodies. He yelled out for the other professors to come over where he was, that he had found the duo and that Poppy should be called immediately. He pulled Hermione into his arms while Hagrid carried Harry. They got out the ditch and Hermione was the only one to properly wake up and be even partially aware while Harry seemed nearly out of his mind with fever and kept coughing, making the whole of Hogwarts' Staff worry even more than they had previously.

A week later Hermione was to be found sitting next to Harry's bed in the hospital wing. Harry was still ill and had just barely started to seem any better than he had been before. While Hermione had been let out only a few days later than when they had been found, Harry had been dangerously close to dying. Tears streaked down her cheeks while she waited for Harry to wake up enough to realize she was there.

Ron was already back from winter break and would come in ever so often, if only to pick at the sweets that seemed to pile up around Harry's bed, but it seemed to pain him too much that Harry had nearly died and didn't want to talk much about it. She remembered the last time Harry had spoken to her in that dratted cave and smiled, hoping that they hadn't been said out of fear that he would die.

Five days later Harry had recovered and was given a clean bill of health by Madam Pomfrey and returned to classes as normal, if only hindered a little by the Asthma he had developed from his Pneumonia.

"Harry..." Hermione softly led Harry along as they walked by the lake, snow softly falling upon the world and them.

"Yeah, Hermione?" Harry replied, a smile crossing his face as he gazed at her. To him she was the most beautiful person he had ever met. He knew he wouldn't be alive if it weren't for her finding him that fateful day, even if he could barely remember anything.

"I was thinking... Did you... you know... Did you mean what you said in that cave?" Hermione asked.

"What?" Harry said pausing to think back. Then he remembered spilling his biggest secret of all to her. "Oh, you mean that... Yes, Hermione. I do love you. Ever since we met on the train..." He replied, taking her hands in his own. He looked at her, his eyes a dimmer colour than they had been before the incident with the cave.

"Really, you mean it?" Hermione asked, inching closer to him.

"If I didn't, do you think I would do this?" He said right before he pulled her into a passionate kiss. It seemed to last forever and yet didn't last long at all. Harry relaxed into Harry and got even closer to the point that she was nearly attached to him and laid her head on his right shoulder. "I don't know what I'd ever do without you, Mione." He said, smiling and looking more content than he ever had in his entire life just as phoenix song broke out onto the grounds.

The End...

A/N: Please review. I like to know that people are enjoying my writing.


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